


At The End of Tomorrow

by Kieran (Ameenjouee)



Series: Bingo Fills [3]
Category: Marvel, The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Bingo, Wakes & Funerals, canon mention of a public shooting, not detailed or anything though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-10 00:08:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18927316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ameenjouee/pseuds/Kieran
Summary: Their deaths always had marked the beginning of the end for Frank.Bingo Fill - Funeral / Memorial





	At The End of Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Bad Things Happen Bingo on tumblr. 
> 
> Prompt fill was funeral/memorial, and I figured it'd be fun to try to write for Frank.

The closed-casket funeral didn’t settle well with Frank. 

He understood - hell, he’d seen everything as it happened - but it didn’t make it easier. 

As much as he didn’t want to see his family dead, seeing them at peace had to be a better last image of them than them bloody and riddled with bullets and terrified. 

He didn’t think he’d ever forget that image. 

He wasn’t sure he deserved to, even if he could. 

* * *

A lot of the service bounced right off Frank none of it getting through as he stared at the pictures of his family - he couldn’t remember when any of the photos had been taken and that wasn’t entirely something he was sure said anything good about him as a husband and a father.

It was easier, once the funeral became less about mourning and more about sharing fond memories. Frank still couldn’t pay attention, but he stayed at the graves hours after everyone else had gone home, sat with his arms loose around his knees and talking his way through every fond memory he had with his family. 

* * *

He still remembered first meeting Maria, just like it had happened yesterday. It could have gone a million and one different ways, but Frank was glad it had led to them getting together.

Even through all the issues that they’d had - their fights, her stubbornness against his inability to give anyone else a chance to prove him wrong - they’d turned out alright, he thought. They’d been great parents and hell if he wasn’t still completely gone on her even after she was dead. 

He knew that was never going to change. 

They’d had plenty of fights where he thought for sure that that was it, they were done. How could they recover from some of the shit they said to one another in the heat of a fight. 

It was the only time he ever disrespected her enough to say something cruel, and damn if she didn’t give just as good as she got. 

He’s pretty sure that’s why they worked so well. She didn’t put up with his shit when he got going, and he didn’t let her quit when they both knew it would save them both a lot of pain if they’d just end it. 

* * *

A small smile made its way forward as he talked through the early stories, ignoring the chill, the darkness settling around him. It wasn’t like he could go home yet. His home was with them, and if there’s one thing he’d still never learned, it was how to quit.

So he kept talking, letting his grief out the only way he knew how to right then. 

* * *

Three months into dating, Maria got pregnant, and Frank had to stop talking to take a shaky breath before he continued on.

He’d been scared out of his head - they always said your kids gave you back twice what you gave your parents, and he wasn’t prepared for that kind of a war. 

But he made up his mind before the hour was up when he’d been told, proposed to her on the spot. 

And he hadn’t regretted it for a single second. 

Sure, he still wished they’d had better timing, he wished it had been more romantic because that was what Maria  _ deserved _ , but things had worked out pretty well. 

* * *

He did regret, he had to admit, that he was gone for the entire time that Maria was pregnant with their son.

He’d been there for all the firsts for their little girl, and he missed every single one of them with their son. 

No wonder the kid turned out so much like he’d been, he’d be pissed too but damn if he didn’t love the kid for looking after their girls while Frank had been overseas. 

* * *

He’d planned to make it up to all three of them now that he was home.

Picnic in the park, picking up right where he’d left off when he got shipped off again. And now he couldn’t. 

He’d come home and gotten them killed instead of giving them the life they deserved. 

 

He didn’t leave the gravesite until the sun was coming up the next morning, an apology leaving his lips as he walked away. 

He had work to do, and he hoped they’d forgive him for it. They always were better than he was, after all. 


End file.
